On the shelf: Books that are more tame than Fourth Wing

By Courtney Warren

Fourth Wing has taken the reading world by storm. If you haven’t heard or read the story, here is a teaser from the publisher. 

Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general―also known as her tough-as-talons mother―has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders.

But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away...because dragons don’t bond to “fragile” humans. They incinerate them.

With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter―like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant.

She’ll need every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise.

Yet, with every day that passes, the war outside grows more deadly, the kingdom’s protective wards are failing, and the death toll continues to rise. Even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret.

Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda―because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I absolutely loved this book. I inhaled it. It sold out when it was first published, and the printers had to do a second print run because if its popularity. 

That being said, it is absolutely not for children. There are many salacious scenes that would make a pirate blush. However, because of social media, many young readers are gravitating to the fantasy world, the adventure, and the dragons. 

Bookstores have caught on to this and, rather than shelving it in the adult sections, they will place the books on a table or end cap near the young adult section. It’s not technically in young adult, but it’s close enough for parents to overlook the fact that kids are picking it up. 

With that in mind, I have been on the hunt for books that are similar but significantly cleaner and more appropriate for my young readers. 

Dragonfruit by Makiia Lucier checked all of those boxes for me. 

This story was inspired by Pacific Island mythology and has romance that is appropriate for upper middle and high school readers. 

It reminds me of the movie Moana mixed with the movie Raya and the Last Dragon. 

The stunning cover only touches the surface of the beauty of this story. 

The main character, Hanalei of Tamarind is the cherished daughter of an old island family.

According to the publisher, when her father steals a seadragon egg meant for an ailing princess, she is forced into a life of exile. In the years that follow, Hanalei finds solace in studying the majestic seadragons that roam the Nominomi Sea. Until, one day, an encounter with a female dragon offers her what she desires most. A chance to return home, and to right a terrible wrong.

Samahtitamahenele, Sam, is the last remaining prince of Tamarind. But he can never inherit the throne, for Tamarind is a matriarchal society. With his mother ill and his grandmother nearing the end of her reign, Sam is left with two choices: to marry, or to find a cure for the sickness that has plagued his mother for ten long years. When a childhood companion returns from exile, she brings with her something he has not felt in a very long time-hope.

But Hanalei and Sam are not the only ones searching for the dragonfruit. And, as they battle enemies both near and far, there is another danger they cannot escape...that of the dragonfruit itself.

It’s important to be in the know with what our young readers are reading; however, that can also be difficult if they love stories. Hopefully, this recommendation will help! It was an immediate classroom purchase for this literature teacher.